Tuesday, August 06, 2013

What Would You Do With 11 Billion Pesos?

The news industry is abuzz with reports of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos'purchase of The Washington Post for US$250 million, said to come from
the liquidation of his Amazon stocks. As of this writing, that amount
translates to Php10.88 billion. (It's actually Php10.885. I just took
out the 5.)

If you had Php10.88 billion, what would you do?

To put things in perspective, I made a few calculations, since I'm
wont to doing these things as a mental exercise. The examples below
do not take inflation into account.

MALLS
If you allot Php2 billion to start and operate a modest-sized
mall, you can build five malls, and you've got spare change to invest
somewhere else. (SM Aura was reported to have cost Php3.5 billion.)

CONDOMINIUM
If you allot Php1.5 billion to build a 300-unit condominium
building (DMCI was reported to have invested Php 1.3 billion in a
560-unit Ohana Residences), you'll have seven such buildings.

HOUSING
If you allot Php100 million to build and furnish a mansion, you'll
have 108 mansions.

MOVIES
If you allot Php50 million for the production and marketing of a
feature film (which is a lot by Philippine standards), you can make
217 movies. If you produce four films a year, it would take you 54
years to use up that whole amount.

THEATRE
If you allot Php10 million for the production and marketing of a
theatre musical (also a lot by Philippine standards), you can mount
1,088 productions. If one season has four productions, it would take
272 years for the whole amount to run out.

BUSINESS
If you give Php7 million to each Filipino who wants to set up a
business and learn how to run it, you'll be able to fund 1,554
businesses. If you fund 20 businesses a year, it would take you 77
years to use up the whole amount.

SCHOLARSHIPS
If you allot Php5 million to educate and sustain the living of a
student in an overseas university, you can do so for 2,170 students.
If you fund the education of 20 students a year, the whole kaboodle
will run out in 108 years.

PUBLICATIONS
If you allot Php2,000,000 for the production and marketing of a
book or magazine that has excellent production values, you can fund
5,440 such projects. If you fund 10 projects a year, you'll use up
the whole amount in, oh, close to five and a half centuries.

SALARIES
If you hired 100 people to do your evil bidding and paid them
Php100,000 a month, you'll have enough money to pay them for 90
years.

TRAVEL
If you allot Php400,000 per person for an overseas trip, you can
do so for 27,200 people. If you're in a party of six and you travel
thrice a year, you will run out of money in.... 1,511 years.

So, just for fun: Taking the assumptions above, and assuming that
you do ALL of these...

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About Me

I've had a long and fruitful career in graphic design, article writing, and magazine art direction, and I've dabbled in theatre acting, playwriting, and teaching in university. But Fate led me to making comics, where I've found unexpected and flattering success.

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